SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS Once upon a time . . . in a great castle, a Prince's daugh

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
Once upon a time . . . in a great castle, a Prince's daughter grew up happy
and contented, in spite of a jealous stepmother. She was very pretty, with
blue eyes and long black hair. Her skin was delicate and fair, and so she was
called Snow White. Everyone was quite sure she would become very beautiful.
Though her stepmother was a wicked woman, she too was very beautiful, and the
magic mirror told her this every day, whenever she asked it.
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the loveliest lady in the land?" The
reply was always; "You are, your Majesty," until the dreadful day when she
heard it say, "Snow White is the loveliest in the land." The stepmother was
furious and, wild with jealousy, began plotting to get rid of her rival.
Calling one of her trusty servants, she bribed him with a rich reward to take
Snow White intc the forest, far away from the Castle. Then, unseen, he was to
put her to death. The greedy servant, attracted to the reward, agreed to do
this deed, and he led the innocent little girl away. However, when they came to
the fatal spot, the man's courage failed him and, leaving Snow White sitting
beside a tree, he mumbled an excuse and ran off. Snow White was all alone in
the forest.
Night came, but the servant did not return. Snow White, alone in the dark
forest, began to cry bitterly. She thought she could feel terrible eyes spying
on her, and she heard strange sounds and rustlings that made her heart thump.
At last, overcome by tiredness, she fell asleep curled under a tree.
Snow White slept fitfully, wakening from time to time with a start and
staring into the darkness round her. Several times, she thought she felt
something, or somebody touch her as she slept.
At last, dawn woke the forest to the song of the birds, and Snow White too,
awoke. A whole world was stirring to life and the little girl was glad to see
how silly her fears had been. However, the thick trees were like a wall round
her, and as she tried to find out where she was, she came upon a path. She
walked along it, hopefully. On she walked till she came to a clearing. There
stood a strange cottage, with a tiny door, tiny windows and a tiny chimney
pot. Everything about the cottage was much tinier than it ought to be. Snow
White pushed the door open.
"l wonder who lives here?" she said to herself, peeping round the kitchen.
"What tiny plates! And spoons! There must be seven of them, the table's laid
for seven people." Upstairs was a bedroom with seven neat little beds. Going
back to the kitchen, Snow White had an idea.
"I'll make them something to eat. When they come home, they'll be glad to
find a meal ready." Towards dusk, seven tiny men marched homewards singing.
But when they opened the door, to their surprise they found a bowl of hot
steaming soup on the table, and the whole house spick and span. Upstairs was
Snow White, fast asleep on one of the beds. The chief dwarf prodded her gently.
"Who are you?" he asked. Snow White told them her sad story, and tears
sprang to the dwarfs' eyes. Then one of them said, as he noisily blew his
nose:
"Stay here with us!"
"Hooray! Hooray!" they cheered, dancing joyfully round the little girl.
The dwarfs said to Snow White:
"You can live here and tend to the house while we're down the mine. Don't
worry about your stepmother leaving you in the forest. We love you and we'll
take care of you!" Snow White gratefully accepted their hospitality, and next
morning the dwarfs set off for work. But they warned Snow White not to open the
door to strangers.
Meanwhile, the servant had returned to the castle, with the heart of a roe
deer. He gave it to the cruel stepmother, telling her it belonged to Snow
White, so that he could claim the reward. Highly pleased, the stepmother
turned again to the magic mirror. But her hopes were dashed, for the mirror
replied:
"The loveliest in the land is still Snow White, who lives in the seven dwarfs'
cottage, down in the forest." The stepmother was beside herself with rage.
"She must die! She must die!" she screamed. Disguising herself as an old
peasant woman, she put a poisoned apple with the others in her basket. Then,
taking the quickest way into the forest, she crossed the swamp at the edge of
the trees. She reached the bank unseen, just as Snow White stood waving
goodbye to the seven dwarfs on their way to the mine.
Snow White was in the kitchen when she heard the sound at the door: KNOCK!
KNOCK!
"Who's there?" she called suspiciously, remembering the dwarfs advice.
"I'm an old peasant woman selling apples," came the reply.
"I don't need any apples, thank you," she replied.
"But they are beautiful apples and ever so juicy!" said the velvety voice
from outside the door.
"I'm not supposed to open the door to anyone," said the little girl, who
was reluctant to disobey her friends.
"And quite right too! Good girl! If you promised not to open up to
strangers, then of course you can't buy. You are a good girl indeed!" Then the
old woman went on.
"And as a reward for being good, I'm going to make you a gift of one of my
apples!" Without a further thought, Snow White opened the door just a tiny
crack, to take the apple.
"There! Now isn't that a nice apple?" Snow White bit into the fruit, and as
she did, fell to the ground in a faint: the effect of the terrible poison left
her lifeless instantaneously.
Now chuckling evilly, the wicked stepmother hurried off. But as she ran
back across the swamp, she tripped and fell into the quicksand. No one heard
her cries for help, and she disappeared without a trace.
Meanwhile, the dwarfs came out of the mine to find the sky had grown dark
and stormy. Loud thunder echoed through the valleys and streaks of lightning
ripped the sky. Worried about Snow White they ran as quickly as they could
down the mountain to the cottage.
There they found Snow White, lying still and lifeless, the poisoned apple
by her side. They did their best to bring her around, but it was no use.
They wept and wept for a long time. Then they laid her on a bed of rose
petals, carried her into the forest and put her in a crystal coffin.
Each day they laid a flower there.
Then one evening, they discovered a strange young man admiring Snow White's
lovely face through the glass. After listening to the story, the Prince (for
he was a prince!) made a suggestion.
"If you allow me to take her to the Castle, I'll call in famous doctors to
waken her from this peculiar sleep. She's so lovely . . . I'd love to kiss
her. . . !" He did, and as though by magic, the Prince's kiss broke the spell.
To everyone's astonishment, Snow White opened her eyes. She had amazingly come
back to life! Now in love, the Prince asked Snow White to marry him, and the
dwarfs reluctantly had to say good bye to Snow White.
From that day on, Snow White lived happily in a great castle. But from time
to time, she was drawn back to visit the little cottage down in the forest.